Blogito ergo sum! Actually, as N.T. Wright averred, "'Amor, ergo sum:' I am loved, therefore I am." Among other things, I am a Roman Catholic deacon. This is a public cyberspace in which I seek to foster Christian discipleship in the late modern milieu in the diakonia of koinonia and in the recognition that "the Eucharist is the only place of resistance to annihilation of the human subject."

Pages

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

All Who Do Evil Are Redeemed- Christians Included

We're going through one of those periods in which the fallen-ness and broken-ness of the world is readily apparent: the hacking to death on a London street of a British soldier by two Islamic terrorists, the devastating tornadoes that ripped through Oklahoma, the worrisome governmental scandals and probable cover ups involving the IRS, DOJ, and State Department, etc. So it seems perfectly natural that many of us are searching for rays of light in this present darkness.

I am very glad that for an increasing number of people Pope Francis is the man who delivers it. He does so especially through his well-publicized homilies, which are short and to the point. Typically, he preaches these at the daily Masses he usually celebrates in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Vatican guest house where he has chosen to take up residence, instead of in the papal apartments.

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward

Commenting on this passage, the Holy Father said,

The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there

It seems clear that the "there" to which the Pontiff makes reference is not heaven, but doing good. The Christian and the charitable atheist will meet "there" at the soup kitchen, the food pantry, the homeless shelter, the refugee center, the AIDS hospice, the free clinic, etc., which becomes the place of encounter.

People have been jumping all over this as if the Holy Father had announced some new breakthrough in Catholic teaching, or, as some surely hoped, articulating some actual change in doctrine, leading towards universalism. Of course, he was doing neither.

Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves: The Three Crosses Rembrandt

It seems to me that in this passage Pope Francis was articulating two things:

1) People who are atheists can perform acts of charity with selfless motivations (Of course they can, who asserted otherwise?)

2) That Christ died to redeem everyone, even people who are atheists (Of course He did, because by His holy cross, He has redeemed the world and everyone in it.)

I think the enthusiasm is probably generated either by a conflation of redemption and justification, or simply by ignoring justification altogether.

While the Catholic Church dogmatically rejects sola fide, insisting that faith is not mere subjective confidence that one is pardoned by God, but includes righteous works, she recognizes that justification itself is a work of grace. As the Catechism states: "Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. 'Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man'" (par. 1989). So, contra the misinformed headline, we don't redeem or justify ourselves.

Should an unbeliever attain heaven, which is not an impossibility (this is nothing new either- see Romans 2:12-18), it would be because of Jesus Christ, without whom, no one, including His Blessed Mother, would go to heaven.

Allow me to turn again to St. Paul, who summed up redemption well as part of his formulation of what is very likely the first Christian creed: "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3). And also in Romans 5:8: "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!"

In a recent speech, Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury, England exhorted the faithful to be wary of the media's agenda when reporting on Pope Francis: "Expectations are subtly or less subtly raised that this is the man who will change the Catholic faith itself in accordance with the commentator’s own wishes and agenda." This episode, I think, provides us with a great case-in-point, which why a basic grasp of redemption is a good place to start.

3 comments:

I was startled by the statement, but when I looked at it in context, I was strongly reminded of this one: "This is the last judgement [Mt 25], and the ethical principle is at work here— not the legislator, but rather the origin or nature of the good. And this he is. This is so true that whoever does good without even realizing that he exists, without being aware of him, does so because his is establishing, unknowingly, a relationship with him." (At the Origin of the Christian Claim, 69).

For my part, no sooner had I posted this than I remembered this from my post on Pentecost, which is also Giussani from At the Origin of the Christian Claim, something, I think, that links what the Holy Father sought to express in preaching about the place of encounter:

"I have tried to show the evidence for the reasonableness with which we attach ourselves to Christ, and then are led by the experience of the encounter with His humanity to the great question about His divinity. What makes us grow and broadens our mind is not abstract reasoning, but finding in humanity a moment when the truth is reached and spoken."

About Me

I am husband and Dad to six lovely children. I am also a Roman Catholic deacon of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. I married in 1993, became a Dad for the first time in 1994 and most recently in 2011 (quite a spread). I was was ordained in 2004. After serving for 11 years at The Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, I am now assigned to St Olaf's Parish in Bountiful, Utah. I am a graduate of the University of Utah and the Institute in Pastoral Ministry at St. Mary's University of Minnesota.

Madeleine Delbrêl

"We fashion the immortal being we are through our choices. Through our choices we bring the man in us to the fullness of life or to the worst of human suffering. At the hour of his death each human being has become either a person who will live with God forever, or who will be without God forever" Madeleine Delbrêl

St. Paul

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom. 12:1-2)

Two men I greatly admire

BXVI w/ Abp Rowan

C.S. Lewis

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one'” Lewis